


Dark Room.

by ProfessionallySarcastic



Category: The Wrath and the Dawn Series - Renée Ahdieh
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Birthday Fluff, Birthday Presents, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-17
Updated: 2019-06-18
Packaged: 2020-05-13 18:53:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19257145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ProfessionallySarcastic/pseuds/ProfessionallySarcastic
Summary: It's Jalal's (not-so-) surprise birthday party. Even though it's a stupid, childish game, the gang ends up playing- (Khalid voice)"Dark Room?"





	1. K Is Done With J.

**Author's Note:**

> The TWATD fandom is in desperate need of more fanfiction, and while I'm no good, I do love this series to bits, so I decided to contribute. Constructive criticism is always appreciated. (Once I finish crying, ofc)

Khalid wasn't big on surprises.

And birthday surprises were no exception. Granted, it wasn't his birthday surprise - no, it was Jalal's - but that didn't mean he was going to be happy about it.

Last week, Jalal had boldly made a group chat, named it "Jalal's Birthday Surprise", and had quit the group, leaving Shahrzad, Despina, and himself behind. Shazi had felt respect but Khalid had thought, _attention-seeking bastard_ , before swiftly quitting the group.

Which, of course, proved to be futile, since Shazi had re-added him into the group anyways, and had pestered him (well, technically, she had just pouted and made those _damned_ puppy dog eyes) to help with Jalal's birthday. Khalid, to the surprise of no one, had crumbled.

Thus, a week of preparations had begun.

Khalid personally thought that Jalal was getting way more attention than he deserved (or even asked for, with his stupid group chat idea), and he said so. But Shazi only replied, "Don't be jealous, Khalid-jan. Trust me. You'll get an even bigger surprise!" Khalid pointed out that she had ruined the "surprise" part, but Shazi conveniently ignored him, instead rambling on to herself, "Maybe I should start planning now. Oh, what should be the colour theme? And, oh my God, the ..." Khalid had watched affectionately as she went on, but didn't have the heart to tell her that he would rather spend the day with her, instead of being with so many people, most of whom weren't worth the time of day.

Shazi had started planning her cake after consulting with Despina, ("I _won't_ burn the cake, I've done this before!" Shazi had responded to Despina's doubts over her baking skills.) Khalid truly wanted to help, but he was absolutely _pathetic_ at baking. Which made no sense because he could cook like a culinary mastermind. But there had been enough instances of Khalid's recurring failures, that the moment he stepped into the kitchen, pushing his sleeves up, Shazi began vehemently shaking her head, saying,"No. No. _No_ ," and shooed him away.

(So he couldn't be blamed for smirking triumphantly when a few minutes later, Shazi called him to the kitchen. She just wanted his help whisking some ingredients up, she said. She was tired from her day at work and couldn't be bothered with the menial tasks of baking, she said. Anyways, she felt bad about kicking him out of the kitchen, she said. Khalid had only smirked, and swooped in to drop a little kiss on her cheek. His smirk grew, when he saw Shazi blush.)

The cake had turned out _just fine_ , or at least fine enough, because Despina was happy with it. She had gotten the balloons, a (deliberately) mismatched set of colours. Shazi had driven them to Jalal's apartment, and all of Khalid's hair had almost went grey with the tension and stress that came with trying not to let the bumps in the road get to Shazi's cake.

So here he was, outside Jalal's apartment, with a bouquet of ridiculous balloons, while Shazi held the cake (the only thing he was looking forward to at this stupid, _"what a waste of time",_ party was eating that cake). Vikram, his bodyguard, stood to a side, quiet and vigilant as always. Despina was ringing the doorbell, with a snow spray in her hand and a mischievous look decorating her Grecian features.

As Jalal's footsteps echoed through the door, Khalid braced himself against the head-ache-inducing ~~wishes~~   _screams_ ( _don't be mean_ , a Shazi-sounding voice in his head scolded) of his friends, which were sure to come.


	2. J is Harassed by Snow Spray.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And I'm back! (???tbh, did not expect this, but what can I say? I'm destined to plague the internet with my bad writing)

Jalal was mildly annoyed - he had been so close to 300 push-ups, Despina's challenging target. He turned off the camera (yes, he had been filming his push-ups, Despina wouldn't believe him for his word, without explicit proof of Jalal's muscle power.) He opened the door, slipping into his charming demeanor - no matter what, he would not give anyone _any_ reason to doubt Jalal al-Khoury's infamous charm.

Although, if this was his neighbour, ringing his bell because " _oh, I can't seem to find any sugar/milk/bread, and I'm too lazy to go out of my house just for a small amount of said commodity, so do you happen to have some?_ " with her annoyingly sweet voice, he would have to make an exception. Why couldn't the poor girl take a hint?

But as he opened the door to his apartment, he was met by a plethora of different voices, saying different things, on differing volumes:

"Happy Birthday, ass!" That was Despina, now blinding, choking, and wrestling him to the ground with what seemed like ... snowspray? _God_. How embarrassing. He heard clicks. _God_. This was being photographed.

"Happy Birthday, Jalal!" That over-excited voice belonged to Shahrzad.

"Happy Birthday, man-child." Khalid, no doubt. If Jalal could had looked, he might've spotted a small smile, but as it was, he was blinded.

"Happy Birthday, person who isn't on anyone's list of best soldier of Reyy." Vikram. Jalal sighed. _Why was he here?_ Jalal hadn't added Godzilla to the birthday surprise group chat he had created to spur his friends into action.

Jalal wiped away the fake snow that had almost blinded him, spat out the fake snow that had almost choked him and managed to get up (kinda hard considering Despina was on top of him and he was _dying_ ), all with a lazy grin on his face. The group chat idea hadn't been that bad. He had relied on Shazi's convincing methods in the case of Khalid, and she had, as always, not disappointed.

Despina scrambled to get up, ( _Was she blushing? Because of him?_ Jalal thought if this was a post on Instagram, he would've sent it to Khalid with the caption "dedd") and barged into his apartment. Shazi followed, throwing him a sheepish and apologetic smile, with Khalid in tow.

Jalal got up, just in time for a tornado of balloons to hit him in the face (so much for looking good, considering all the fake snow on him, and now the balloons were messing up his hair too). Jalal swatted the balloons away and realised that Khalid was the one holding them. He felt his mouth curve into a teasing smirk, a taunt on the tip of his tongue, but Khalid looked at him like he would snap his neck if he so much as opened his mouth. Grumpy ass.

But the _real_ grumpy ass was yet to enter, and Jalal looked him over, choosing him instead of Khalid to be on the receiving end of his taunt, "You think I'm gonna let Persian Hulk into my apartment?"

Vikram grunted. Jalal rolled his eyes. There was no point in trying to keep him out. "Try not to break every atom you step on, _Viki_ ," and jumped away before Vikram could annihilate him for that ridiculous nickname.

Back in the lounge of his apartment, his friends had piled - wait, seriously? - gifts(?) on the coffee table. Like, actual gifts. With the shiny wrapping paper. Even Khalid had managed, with black shiny wrapping paper. (Jalal suspected it was Shazi's handiwork, just like pushing Khalid to partake in this surprise party.) Jalal felt like they needed a reminder that he was the oldest among them.

Shazi was carefully placing a large box ( _oh my God,_ was that the cake? Jalal was starving.) on the coffee table, Khalid stood to a side with his stupid balloons ( _oh my God_ , Khalid couldn't just walk into his apartment like that and expect Jalal to keep his sense of humour in check) and Despina - _oh, damn._

She could say all she wanted about how she didn't give two shits about Jalal's opinion but he could tell she had gotten all dressed up for the occasion, and _that_ was a birthday gift on its own.

Unable to keep his stupid tongue in check, Jalal dramatically touched his chest and comically held onto the arm of the sofa she was sitting on, "Be still, my besotted heart." He fell into her lap and looking up into her irritated face, said,"Despina al-Sharif, if you were more beautiful, I would melt just by gazing into the light of your divine face."

Khalid groaned, Shazi wolf-whistled (Jalal wished he could mentally high-five that girl), Viki grunted and the subject of the affections of his smitten heart?

Yeah, she pushed him off her lap and onto the floor.

"Thanks for ruining my dress, Jalal al-Khoury."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading guys, truly do not expect even half a soul to like this but, as i earlier said, iT's dEsTiNy

**Author's Note:**

> Pls, don't rely on me for updates :(


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